<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A man accused of selling $700,000 worth of cannabis seeds online has been granted bail and warned it would be "pure stupidity" to break his strict release conditions.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Samuel Joseph Topia, 40, appeared in Brisbane Supreme Court today via videolink and represented himself in his bail application.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Topia was charged on August 19, 2024 with cannabis production, possession, supply, importation and trafficking at a farming property outside Kingaroy, west of Queensland's Sunshine Coast.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/weather-news-queensland-storm-warning-national-weather-forecast-eastern-australia/0dd35ebe-3fb2-4b06-95b2-16faed50b647" rel="" target="_blank" title=""><strong><span>Severe storms, hail and fresh rain bomb heading for one state</span></strong></a><strong></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Prosecutors alleged Topia had been running an online business offering sales of 285 types of cannabis seeds and had 1800 packages ready to fulfil orders.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Justice Melanie Hindman asked Topia why she should grant him bail when he had previously been convicted of similar offending at the same farm in April 2023.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"It looks like what you do is immediately go back and start doing the exact same thing that just got you into trouble," Justice Hindman said.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/national/more-online-drug-sales-would-be-pure-stupidity-judge/fd25929b-3dd7-4be0-9a38-5fa810e91715" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Topia said his time on remand since his arrest was the first time he had been in custody.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"In the past I was misled over certain regulations I was entitled to under the research I had done," Topia said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Justice Hindman said Topia must have known after he was convicted that he could not continue the research he claimed to be doing on an illegal plant.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/keith-lees-extradited-to-queensland-after-alleged-murder-of-meaghan-louise-rose-1997/f88d274f-30db-472a-b176-7f9c2dcd6bba" rel="" target="_blank" title=""><strong><span>Man to be extradited to Queensland over 1997 death of ex-partner</span></strong></a><strong></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"That might have washed, perhaps, back in 2023, but surely the inference I make now is you thought, 'bugger it, I'll just keep doing it'," Justice Hindman said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Topia said he had turned 40 in custody and wanted to reconnect with estranged family members.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I definitely can't do a life of this," he said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The crown prosecutor opposed bail, claiming Topia presented an unacceptable risk of committing further offences with an "insidious" effect of increasing cannabis production in the community.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Justice Hindman granted Topia bail on the condition he not consume cannabis even in medicinal form and not promote the sale of cannabis on his website.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"The police will be watching very closely ... it would just be pure stupidity to go back to that sort of offending and no one will have any sympathy for you," she said.</span></div></div>